Health Implications Workshop and Panel Presentation
In April 2018, CU Denver's College of Architecture and Planning held a two-day event to address health implications in neighborhoods, cities, and communities. A call-to-action was issued that began a partnership that would become the Colorado Healthy Places Collaborative — a network of nearly two dozen statewide and regional organizations and associations committed to working together to create healthier places in Colorado.
A workshop was held at the College for discussion on the health implications of displacement and relocation. Attention was given to gentrification and megaprojects which uproot people from their communities. That theme was continued at a program with a panel of health and planning experts from New York City, Washington, DC, and California.
The speakers addressed long-term health impacts — physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual — of being displaced from community. A perspective was shared that healthy development does not have to result in displacement and the harm which occurs from being uprooted.
Key Themes
- Health implications of neighborhood change, displacement, and relocation
- Gentrification and megaprojects as community health challenges
- Long-term physical, mental, social, and spiritual health impacts of displacement
- Design and planning approaches that promote healthy development without displacement
Origins of the Colorado Healthy Places Collaborative
The Communities in Transition symposium was the catalyst for forming the Colorado Healthy Places Collaborative (CHPC). The call-to-action issued during the event brought together organizations from across Colorado that shared a commitment to creating healthier communities. Within months, the network had grown to include nearly two dozen statewide and regional organizations representing architecture, planning, landscape architecture, public health, sustainability, and community development.
The CHPC became a key partner in the dissemination of the GuideBox to Healthy Places, which is available for borrowing through CHPC member organizations throughout Colorado. The Collaborative continues to serve as a forum for collaboration on healthy places work across the state.